Alex Ahearn and Mai Baum at AEC in 2014. Picture by Sally Spickard.
It was 2014, and I used to be simply beginning my fledgling profession in eventing media. Because of steering of a few of the first associates I made on the grounds, I positioned myself, digital “digital camera” in hand, on the dressage ring within the Texas warmth, prepared to completely dazzle the EN readership with my experiences from the American Eventing Championships.
The entry checklist was a literal who’s who of sport: Buck Davidson, Jon Holling, Laine Ashker, Tamie Smith (who I used to be nonetheless formally calling “Tamra” at that time). However as the subsequent Intermediate pair cantered across the exterior of the dressage letters, I used to be struck by the horse in entrance of me. A fast look on the entries didn’t reveal a lot; I didn’t know the rider, however I did discover that she was Asian — and as I’ve written about a number of occasions right here on EN, I knew I’d be diving down the rabbit gap so far as I might to study extra about this rider.
That horse and rider had been Alex Ahearn and Mai Baum, who had been on their option to being talent-spotted to the USEF Eventing 25 checklist the next 12 months after a profitable marketing campaign on the then-2* stage (now 3*).
Everybody loves a humorous face! Alex Ahearn and Mai Baum. Picture by Jenni Autry.
The horse was nothing in need of unimaginable. He was lovely. He moved like a pure dressage horse, however then when it got here time to leap, he tackled each query with the identical quantity of enthusiasm and beauty.
It wasn’t too lengthy after this primary glimpse that the trip on “Lexus” was handed to Tamie, who had coached Alex after she and her dad and mom, Ellen Ahearn and Eric Markell, acquired him from Germany, having been sourced by Michelle Pestl. The household had moved all the way down to southern California to help Alex’s using, however Alex had had one other thought brewing behind her thoughts: what might this glorious horse do with a high rider?
Tamie wanted a very good horse. She’d made a reputation for herself with a handful of others, however she hadn’t fairly gotten ahold of THE horse but. She had the expertise, drive, ambition — traits any good rider has of their possession — however usually it’s the seek for the horse that’s received the substances, the soundness and the endurance to actually compete on the high of the game, that forestalls riders from reaching their high targets. And the game was getting tougher. The elimination of the dressage coefficient loomed massive, which means the leaping phases would change into more and more invaluable and one couldn’t depend on a very good mover alone to compete. The cross nation programs and the present leaping tracks had been getting more and more technical by the 12 months.
Tamie Smith and Mai Baum compete at Rebecca Farm in 2015. Picture by Sally Spickard.
In truth, on paper, Mai Baum had loads of query marks himself. Sure, he’d been aggressive on the Intermediate and Superior ranges, however he solely carried about 30% Thoroughbred blood (certainly, you’d have to return 5 generations in his pedigree to search out the primary proof of a “blood horse,” on this case stemming from a French Arabian on the dam aspect. Because of Amanda Likelihood for that enjoyable reality!) — a little bit of anomaly, as occasion horses go. Would he have the stamina required to hold on in Lengthy format occasions or the 5* stage?
Right here at EN, the group was absolutely onboard the Mai Baum prepare from day one. He had the complete package deal, in our eyes: he might flash on the flat, he was rideable sufficient on cross nation (for a rider like Alex or Tamie, no less than!), and he was cautious sufficient within the present leaping that you simply didn’t fear about errant rails. However it could take longer than anybody anticipated to see the black gelding notice his full potential.
Tamie Smith hugs Mai Baum after her lovely take a look at at Honest Hill in 2015. Picture by Jenni Autry.
Harm sidelined Mai Baum from stepping as much as the 5* stage or concentrating on the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. He and Tamie had been chosen to characterize the U.S. on the 2019 Pan American Video games, however some errors on cross nation held them again from being extra individually aggressive. We’d have to attend till 2021 for Mai Baum to make his long-awaited 5* debut, and he didn’t disappoint, ending ninth at Kentucky that 12 months. He went on to go to Tokyo because the touring reserve for the U.S. in a while in 2021 and CHIO Aachen and Badminton the next 12 months, ending tenth and ninth, respectively. To cap off 2022, he helped the U.S. to a silver medal end within the FEI Eventing World Championships in Italy.
Picture by Tilly Berendt.
After which got here 2023. Throughout his final journey to Kentucky, Mai Baum had an ill-timed activated pin on cross nation, costing 11 penalties that stored the pair from successful. 2023 was the 12 months to actual revenge on that cross nation course — which they did, full cease. Tamie and Mai Baum went on to complete on their dressage rating of 24.2 to take dwelling simply the second U.S. 5* victory since 2008 and firmly stamp their names within the historical past books.
However this text is not only an inventory of accolades and accomplishments. This horse is greater than his lengthy checklist of accomplishments and report scores.
On his again, he carried the hopes and desires of an entire household, whose daughter sought a spot to belong on the planet. He carried the heartbreak of Tamie herself after her finest buddy, Heather’s, brother handed away after a hard-fought battle of most cancers through the largest competitors she’d gone to with the horse on the time. He carried the pressures that include immense expertise: the meticulous vet checks, the rehab from damage, the lengthy travels, the swimming and trot units and gallop units and cross nation schoolings and observe reveals.
Picture by Shannon Brinkman Images.
Horses ask nothing from us, besides the assembly of their primary wants. Meals, shelter, security. Present these to them, they usually give again to us, ten-fold. They offer us their hearts, their our bodies, and it falls to us, their stewards, to name time on a profession, as profitable as it may be, on the applicable time.
The Ahearn/Markell household and Tamie have at all times been adamant that the horse comes first. The query of retiring Mai Baum loomed massive as he started to become older — in years, no less than, if not in physique. It’s a troublesome — and, on the identical time, straightforward — determination to retire a horse that’s nonetheless sound and aggressive.
It might have been Mai Baum’s swan track at Rebecca Farm — an occasion that had helped form his profession and garnered him a number of wins — this previous weekend, but it surely’s removed from goodbye. He’s received a house endlessly along with his household, and whereas we don’t know but how he’ll cross the time from right here on out, we’ve received droves of images, movies and articles to maintain him present in our thoughts.
Alex Ahearn and Tamie Smith with Mai Baum. Picture by Shannon Brinkman Images.
And so it feels applicable to say thanks right here as I shut this out. Thanks, Mai Baum, for the reminiscences, for catching our eyes all these years in the past, on your quirks like not liking spray bottles close to you, for at all times giving us one thing to rally round and cheer for. You’ve modified extra lives than you’ll ever know, and also you’ve made our sport higher simply by being part of it.
Go Eventing.
